Varieties of Grass 117 



are obliged to know the different species, because 

 they call have peculiarities more or less trouble- 

 some. Thus the tchigonankondo makes a noise 

 which is heard a long way off; the nsandje also, 

 but it is not so long, rarely exceeding the height 

 of a man. The date of an elephant track is 

 most difficult to recognise in the nsandje. The 

 niumbo, with which the thatch of roofs l is made, is 

 very tall, but makes little noise; the kadiambidzi 2 

 has a long, thin stalk, and grows in little tufts 2 feet 

 high, with spaces between them, leaving the earth in 

 view ; the tsekera, or tchipeta, which has a large stalk 

 as thick as a penholder, grows 8 feet high in wet 

 places. The latter is fire-proof. The sont'e, a short, 

 broad, cutting, supple grass, is much liked by buffaloes; 

 the ruba is a small, red, rare grass which grows in 

 sandy forests ; the nsidzi leaves a multitude of small, 

 prickly, bearded burrs sticking to your skin or clothes, 

 which must be taken out one by one from the 

 cloth ; and the lincotche is sought for by guinea- 

 fowls. There are many more, which the' man of the 

 woods will get to know. 



Our little elephant was completely domesticated 

 after four or five days of camp life. It required 

 on the average eight tins of condensed milk a 

 day, and my stock was not long in running out. 

 I sent to headquarters for other tins ; and to feed 

 it until they arrived that is, during a period of ten 

 days, I tried to buy one or two cows from Mpeseni. 



1 Hence the native name for hut, niumba. 

 - That is, "which zebras eat." 



